Opposing View to Nancy Pelosi

(This was submitted as an opposing view Op-ed to that of Nancy Pelosi / Steny Hoyer appearing in USA Today August 10. 2009, "Un-American attacks can't derail healthcare debate". I firmly believe that USA Today has an obligation to print opposing view Op-eds.)
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I am a semi-retired 70 year old small business owner with very deep concerns about the direction of our country. I am not a member of any organization or "mob", I am not a radical, and I am a registered democrat although in recent times it is difficult to identify with the party of today. I firmly believe that our country is in grave danger under the current direction in Washington, this includes both major parties. I am concerned, not so much for myself, but for the future of my children, my grandchildren, and for all future generations of Americans. The voice of the people in our country is no longer being heard, in fact it is being shut out. Special interest groups, lobbies, organizations that are unethical and even illegal, and irresponsible politicians are running our country. Nearly all of the warnings as given by the Founders of our country in regard to preventing the failure of our democracy are being violated.

Our nation is being driven into bankruptcy. With all the numbers and financial analysis being tossed around one has to only look at basic facts. Our nation is now at $11.7 trillion in debt and climbing, the expected budget shortfall this fiscal year alone is $1.84 trillion, and that is also climbing. Manufacturing and other private business in America have been devastated with extremely high unemployment in the private, non government employee sector. The US trade deficit is expected to be approximately $700 billion this year. Legislation is being stampeded through Congress that will add even trillions of more dollars to our debt. To me this is not only bankruptcy, but places our nation in peril.

At the same time extensive control of our country is being centralized within the federal government. This includes the seizure of major banks, financial institutions, major auto companies, the US Census, energy sources, organized labor, and other areas vital to the US. There are estimates of 3 dozen "czars" reporting directly to President Obama. Democratic Senator Robert Byrd stated, "The accumulation of power by White House staff can threaten the Constitutional system of checks and balances," There is a strong feeling by many that by purposely creating a false sense of urgency, a series of legislation with "sound good" titles are being rammed through Congress that will severely limit the basic freedoms of Americans. Much of this legislation will add significantly to our debt.

Now underway is an attempt to control the healthcare of all Americans at the federal level. There is no doubt that our current healthcare needs fixing, more like fine tuning, and there are some identified logical steps to do this. The role of the federal government, however, should be that of oversight, not complete control as now intended. Misleading numbers have been used. The claim is that there are 47 million people are without healthcare coverage. Out of that number there are 9.1 million people who earn $75,000 a year or more and chose not to have healthcare insurance, even though they can afford it. That is their choice! The Pew Hispanic Center estimates that 59% of the nations illegal immigrants are uninsured, or about 7.1 million people. This means that effectively 90% of Americans, who want it, have health insurance. Further, for the most part, these 90% are very satisfied with their coverage. As a further indicator an AOL online poll (7/31/09) with over 50,000 votes showed 78% of the people oppose Obama's healthcare plan. Only 10% support it. All of this supports the fine tuning required, not a massive federal takeover.

There are other very serious issues with the proposed healthcare legislation. A chief advisor to Obama is Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, the brother of White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. Either in direct words or by clear implication Dr. Emanuel wants doctors to look beyond the needs of their patients and consider social justice, such as whether the money could be better spent on somebody else. He believes that "communitarianism" should guide decisions on who gets care. He says medical care should be reserved for the non-disabled, not given to those "who are irreversibly prevented from being or becoming participating citizens". Unbelievably, in order to reduce costs he clearly implies that those who are lesser to society such as the elderly, handicapped, and disabled, should not be fully treated. He essentially favors a eugenics approach to healthcare. There is good reason why many elderly people, and many others are angry! They have a right to be. Further, it is misleading to say that a federal healthcare system will be budget neutral. The independent Congressional Budget Office has indicated that it will cost over $1 trillion. The net cost to taxpayers will be very significant.

People who HAVE read the entire 1500 page healthcare bill have serious concerns about specifics in the bill and some of these have been pointed out. Further there seems to be a new approach to legislation that should be highly questionable. This is in reference to voluminous legislation, yet still written in general terms that become "law". This law is then placed into specific federal regulations by Washington bureaucrats. Those who vote on it, let alone the American people, have no idea what the specific federal regulations are going to be. This gives an immense amount of unchecked freedom for the regulations to say anything they want them to, without any checks and balances.

Perhaps most disturbing of all is the fact that the American people's opinion and desires on running our country seem to be no longer considered. Given our current crisis and the alarming direction being set by those in Washington, people have a right to be heard and have a right to be upset. Anyone who has observed some of the tea parties and now the town hall meetings can readily see that many of those speaking up are just regular citizens, the elderly, various races and backgrounds, as well as many democrats. Yet they are being demonized as radicals, nazis, right wing nuts, and being called un-American. There is an attempt to pass significant legislation that will greatly affect all Americans not only today, but future generations, yet people are being denied the right to question, to speak up? There is an accumulation of frustration in America, not only in regard to healthcare, but all the issues, the massive spending, and more. People are very concerned.

We seem to have an ever growing arrogance in Washington. Think for a moment. The person who heads a body of government entitled THE HOUSE OF "REPRESENTATIVES" (those who are supposed to REPRESENT us) say that those who question, who voice their opinions, who speak up in opposition, who disagree with the current direction are un-American. This person is Nancy Pelosi. We ARE Americans, Nancy!